Eric Fischl was born March 9, 1948, and was widely known as an American artist made famous by his paintings, sculptures, and prints. He was originally born in New York City, but grew up in the Long Island suburbs. In 1967 his family moved to Arizona where he began his art education at Phoenix University. Then in 1972 he graduated with his B.F.A from the
California institute for the arts. After earning his B.F.A he went to Chicago working as a guard for The Museum of Contemporary Art. After two years of working there, he then moved to Nova
Scotia to teach painting at the Nova Scotia college of Art and Design. His first solo art show took place in at the Dalhousie Art Gallery in Nova Scotia in 1975 - curated by Bruce W. Ferguson.
After this he…show more content… Fischl uses his graphic images to help a society face the reality of topics, rather than shying away from “inappropriate” or “unspeakable” subjects.
In one of Fischl’s most famous works “Bad Boy” he illuminates the controversies correlating with adolescent sexuality. The painting displays a young boy digging into a woman’s purse while she lies nude on the bed. The woman is in a revealing position, and is aware of the boy’s presence. This piece shows the indecency that many viewers find in his paintings, but also demonstrates the reality of things. The boy seems unaffected and rather mesmerized by the woman. Many may say the woman is in the wrong for being so revealing towards a young,
“innocent” boy. Yet at the same time he is digging into her purse without her knowledge. This displays the way society desires to shelter the youth, yet there is no way of doing that. We are all human beings whether young or old, and fall under the weight of human flaw and impropriety.
Through his artwork Fischl attempts to break the barrier between the pre disposition that nudity is a “bad thing”. He confronts the complex relationship, and attitude towards it.…show more content… Throughout many of his pieces he creates graphic scenes of nudity, sexual encounters, and other sexually correlated themes. He does this not to desensitize the viewer, but to show that human sexuality is natural, and okay. He depicts humans in a very natural state, yet his depictions include actions that are often kept in private. In painting these risqué images he shows the natural forms of human nature. By displaying these images to the public many may think it’s inappropriate, and too graphic. But Fischl is trying to show that
everyone has urges, and indulges in them. He causes people to face the reality of things and realize that they aren’t forbidden, unacceptable, or incapable of being addressed. It’s human nature and rather than fearing it, Fischl embraces it.
Personally I think Fischl’s work stands out a great deal more, in comparison to other figurative artists. I appreciate that he shows the true nature of humanity, and the subject’s people are afraid to talk about. He takes risks in his work, and you can tell he takes a great deal of pride in it. The fact that he paints these risqué images makes him stand out. He’s showing the world that it’s okay to embrace the things about yourself that may be eccentric, diverse, uncanny,